Splash...

The cold water from the shower head above sobered him up and dispelled some of the summer heat.

He closed his eyes and allowed the water to wash over him, but his heart was not as calm as his expression was.

Just this afternoon, he had been chosen by the system. However, this thing was rather simple and crude. Rather than calling it a system, it was more like a special tool.

After his shower, Cheng Xu could not help but want to take a look.

With a thought, he heaved a sigh of relief—it was still there.

[Gold: 0]

[Breakdown]

[Mysterious Shop (To be unlocked)]

In addition to the interface, the system also came with a dimensional pocket, which was divided into a hundred slots. After a few attempts, he learned that each slot could hold an object of one cubic meter.

That was all the system had. It had no AI, no missions, and not even a newbie pack.

At this point in time, Cheng Xu could only use two functions: [Breakdown], and the dimensional pocket.

"No matter what, I'm a cute boy with a system now."

Cheng Xu heaved a sigh of relief and threw away the countless distracting thoughts in his mind.

He put on his clothes, unbolted the rusty door, and pulled the door handle hard.

With a loud squeak, the old wooden door of the bathroom finally opened, but the lower edge of the door was still shaking stubbornly.

After making a simple stir-fry with green pepper and eggs, Cheng Xu brought the huge bowl to the courtyard.

The yard was not big and was surrounded by red brick walls. On the mottled concrete floor, there were many cardboard boxes, scrap metal, and other discarded material like it.

This small courtyard was Cheng Xu's home, which was also the Donweist Scrap Recycling Center.

He did not know if it was because the green pepper eggs he made paired really well with the rice, or if there were too many mosquitoes in the yard, but Cheng Xu finished his meal in less than two minutes.

If one person could eat his fill, the whole family would not go hungry.

His grandfather, who had always been dependent on him, had passed away from an illness more than a month ago. Now, he was all alone.

"It seems that if I don't get into an orphanage, I won't be able to become the main character with a system."

Cheng Xu laughed at himself, picked up the bench, and went back inside the house.

Under the dim incandescent light, the pencil in front of him gradually melted and separated into two parts—the pencil lead, and the wood.

Cheng Xu felt that he had learned a new aspect of the [Breakdown] function.

...

"Mr. Cheng! Are you there?"

Cheng Xu sighed when he heard the voice from outside. 'Who would come here so early?'

When he opened the door and saw the sun hanging high in the sky, Cheng Xu became a little embarrassed.

Yesterday, he could not sleep at all, and his mind was filled with all kinds of thoughts. Unsurprisingly, he woke up late today.

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

Rattle...

He removed the chain and padlock from the iron gates of the courtyard.

A tall and thin man outside the door came in through the crack with a paper box in his arms.

"Mr. Cheng, I brought you some good stuff today," Wang Fangping said with a smile.

Cheng Xu naturally knew who he was. He worked in an electronics factory nearby, and from time to time, he would pick up a few things from the factory to sell.

"What good stuff? Let me see." Cheng Xu peeked into the box and saw some damaged transformers, capacitors, circuit boards...

Of course, he collected these things, but usually, he would sell them to a higher-level recycling center, earning only a small profit.

The main thing was that even if these things were worthless, there were still some precious metals inside. Even if they were valuable, it would be too troublesome to get the metals out.

His grandfather had taken him to deal with it before, but it ended up being nothing more than smashing everything with a hammer, and then slowly picking out the metal parts with a magnet or by hand, which was quite time-consuming.

"Weigh it."

Without waiting for Cheng Xu to make a move, Wang Fangping immediately put the box on the scale.

"I'll round it up for you. 50 yuan."

Cheng Xu was not keen on doing these businesses, but they were his only source of income at the moment.

"Mr. Cheng, give me some more. I heard there's gold in there."

Cheng Xu was not surprised that there was gold in it. Many circuit boards used a very small amount of gold or silver to improve its performance.

"You're so smart. The gold in your box is not even worth the chemical I used to refine it," Cheng Xu said with a smile as he gestured with his hand.

"Are you going to sell it or not? Why don't you take it back and see if you can get some gold out of it?"

"Forget it, fifty it is. I don't have the time to do all that. I'd rather play two rounds of cards."

Cheng Xu took out a handful of change from his pocket, plucked out two twenties and a tenner, and handed it to Wang Fangping.

"Alright, I'm heading off."

"If you have nothing to do, play less cards and save some money to find a wife."

"Why would I find a wife for no reason? I'm so free and easy by myself."

Before he finished speaking, he had already walked out of the courtyard.

Cheng Xu shook his head and entered the house with the box.

"Isn't that called getting a life?"

Looking at the large box of scrap electronic components in front of him, he could not hide the smile on his face.

"Breakdown!"

The electronic components in front of him began to melt rapidly, but the different materials did not blend with each other.

Whether it was the metal welded on top, or the metal wrapped inside, everything floated to the side at Cheng Xu's will.

Plastic, silica gel, paper, iron, copper, silver, gold ...

"Looks like there really is gold, but it's a pity that it's not even as big as a grain of rice. "

All the different materials were separated and then disappeared in front of Cheng Xu.

He wiped the sweat that was about to drip down his face, and opened his dimensional pocket with satisfaction. The different materials were placed into separate slots.

In his dimensional pocket, he could directly sense the weight of an object through his will.

According to the current market price, these metals should be worth more than 200 yuan in total.

"Not bad. I've made more than 100 yuan in just ten minutes."

Although Cheng Xu was a little tired, but he could not help but feel happy. After all, this was the first time his system had generated value.

Although in his imagination yesterday, this kind of usage was considered a relatively low-end operation. Regardless, he had made money.

"Gold has been detected, starting the first mission."

"Huh?!"

When he heard the electronically synthesized voice in his mind, Cheng Xu could not suppress his wildly beating heart.

"I'm finally out on a mission. This is what I call having a life."

He quickly looked through the mission details.

"Mission requirement: Acquire a 100 grams of gold."

"Mission reward: Unlock [Mysterious Shop]."

After reading the details of the mission, Cheng Xu scratched his head.

"Geez, that much gold is worth over 30,000 yuan. Where am I supposed to get all that?"

Then, he turned his attention to the interface.

[Gold: 0.4g]

...

His stomach was growling, and only then did he remember that he had not had breakfast.

"Food first!"

He put a handful of Laotan pickled cabbage noodles into the pot, then added two eggs and a ham sausage.

Before the summer break, Cheng Xu was still thinking about whether to find a summer job or stay at home to help his grandfather take care of the scrapyard. With his grandfather's departure, he seemed to have no other choice.

However, he became a person who possessed a system. It was not like he needed to find a job. 

Bang! Bang! Bang! 

"Open the door!"

Cheng Xu frowned when he heard the voice from outside the door.

"Is there no end to it?"

There was nowhere to hide. Cheng Xu put down his bowl and got up to open the door.